Mr Chairman; The Honourable Minister of Land Reclamation, Regional
and Water UNEP Headquarters; The vice-chancellor, University of Nairobi; Your
Excellencies; Distinguished Participants; Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr Chairman allow me to welcome all the local and foreign participants
to the 6th International Conference on Rainwater Catchment Systems.

The theme of our conference is "Participation in rainwater
collection for low-income communities and sustainable development". And,
Mr Chairman, the conference objectives are:

To explore the potential for rainwater use in rural and urban areas.

To identify problems and constraints - technical, social, cultural, or economic
- that restrict participation in the development and use of rainwater catchment
systems on a sustainable basis.

To exchange lessons learnt and experiences gained in the development and
use of technologies in rainwater catchment systems.

To study the role of women and community participation in the development
of rainwater harvesting systems.

Mr Chairman, it is my hope that the participants will find the
conference suitable and enabling in order to achieve the objectives proposed here.

Lastly, Mr Chairman, may I wish everybody a fruitful conference.
For those of you visiting Kenya for the first time, we are sure it will not be
your last and we hope you will all have an enjoyable stay.
Thank you

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